Trampoline angle suspension apparatus

ABSTRACT

The invention is a multiple surface trampoline where at least one surface is at an angle incline and one jumping material covers multiple surfaces continuously. The trampoline has a cross section wherever two surfaces at differing angles intersect and that cross section has tension supports that secure the cross section to a support cross bar. The tension supports eliminate the no bounce effect that occurs with prior art, which in turn reduces the risk of injury to persons who use the trampolines.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to trampolines, and more particularly to trampoline parks.

PROBLEM STATEMENT Interpretation Considerations

This section describes the technical field in more detail, and discusses problems encountered in the technical field. This section does not describe prior art as defined for purposes of anticipation or obviousness under 35 U.S.C. section 102 or 35 U.S.C. section 103. Thus, nothing stated in the Problem Statement is to be construed as prior art.

Discussion

A trampoline typically includes a frame assembly supported on a floor by a plurality of supports. Other trampolines are supported by cords and then supported by end beams and support legs. A trampoline is a jumping bed tightly stretched within an opening in the frame assembly via a plurality of spaced elastic elements. Elastic elements attach the jumping bed to the support frame.

The jumping bed is usually made out of a woven polypropylene material. The material is not elastic in itself. The elastic cords or springs provide the elasticity for the trampoline. The jumping bed is made to withstand significant force of jumpers and the polypropylene material is strong and waterproof The jumping bed is the surface for which a person or persons can jump safely and feel the spring from the elasticity of the springs. The force of the trampoline pushes the jumper in the opposite direction from which the jumper landed. A jump down goes straight up. A jump from an angle in has the reciprocal angle out.

Recently, there has been an increase in popularity of trampoline parks with indoor trampoline courts. When a plurality of trampolines are placed adjacent one another; a trampoline court is created. These parks are composed of multiple trampolines allowing jumpers to maneuver from one trampoline to another. These parks include horizontal trampolines, and even angled trampolines that connect the flat surface with side walls allowing jumpers to jump and unusual angles. Some of these parks are used for training, exercise, and even dodge-ball.

When a trampoline court is created, several areas are created within the court where no bounce is achieved. The support members significantly reduce the effective bounce area of the trampoline court. More specifically areas where the jumping mat covers a plurality of angles such as a flat surface and an angle surface continuously. There is a need to eliminate these areas where no bounce is achieved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various aspects of the invention, as well as an embodiment, are better understood by reference to the following detailed description. To better understand the invention, the detailed description should be read in conjunction with the drawings and tables, in which:

FIG. 1 shows an isometric side view of the trampoline angle suspension support apparatus.

FIG. 2 shows an isometric front view of the trampoline angle suspension support apparatus.

FIG. 3 shows an isometric rear view of the trampoline angle suspension support apparatus.

EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT OF A BEST MODE Interpretation Considerations

When reading this section (An Exemplary Embodiment of a Best Mode, which describes an exemplary embodiment of the best mode of the invention, hereinafter “exemplary embodiment”), one should keep in mind several points.

First, the following exemplary embodiment is what the inventor believes to be the best mode for practicing the invention at the time this patent was filed. Thus, since one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize from the following exemplary embodiment that substantially equivalent structures or substantially equivalent acts may be used to achieve the same results in exactly the same way, or to achieve the same results in a not dissimilar way, the following exemplary embodiment should not be interpreted as limiting the invention to one embodiment.

Likewise, individual aspects (sometimes called species) of the invention are provided as examples, and, accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art may recognize from a following exemplary structure (or a following exemplary act) that a substantially equivalent structure or substantially equivalent act may be used to either achieve the same results in substantially the same way, or to achieve the same results in a not dissimilar way.

Accordingly, the discussion of a species (or a specific item) invokes the genus (the class of items) to which that species belongs as well as related species in that genus. Likewise, the recitation of a genus invokes the species known in the art. Furthermore, it is recognized that as technology develops, a number of additional alternatives to achieve an aspect of the invention may arise. Such advances are hereby incorporated within their respective genus, and should be recognized as being functionally equivalent or structurally equivalent to the aspect shown or described.

Second, the only essential aspects of the invention are identified by the claims. Thus, aspects of the invention, including elements, acts, functions, and relationships (shown or described) should not be interpreted as being essential unless they are explicitly described and identified as being essential. Third, a function or an act should be interpreted as incorporating all modes of doing that function or act, unless otherwise explicitly stated (for example, one recognizes that “tacking” may be done by nailing, stapling, gluing, hot gunning, riveting, etc., and so a use of the word tacking invokes stapling, gluing, etc., and all other modes of that word and similar words, such as “attaching”).

Fourth, unless explicitly stated otherwise, conjunctive words (such as “or”, “and”, “including”, or “comprising” for example) should be interpreted in the inclusive, not the exclusive, sense. Fifth, the words “means” and “step” are provided to facilitate the reader's understanding of the invention and do not mean “means” or “step” as defined in §112, paragraph 6 of 35 U.S.C., unless used as “means for—functioning—” or “step for—functioning—” in the Claims section. Sixth, the invention is also described in view of the Festo decisions, and, in that regard, the claims and the invention incorporate equivalents known, unknown, foreseeable, and unforeseeable. Seventh, the language and each word used in the invention should be given the ordinary interpretation of the language and the word, unless indicated otherwise.

It should be noted in the following discussion that acts with like names are performed in like manners, unless otherwise stated. Of course, the foregoing discussions and definitions are provided for clarification purposes and are not limiting. Words and phrases are to be given their ordinary plain meaning unless indicated otherwise.

Description of the Drawings

Trampoline courts are created by placing a plurality of trampolines adjacent to one another. The trampolines can cover a flat surface, but may also be secured at an angle connected the base to the walls creating an exciting addition to the court allowing more jumping surfaces with multiple angled surfaces. The problem with these trampoline courts are that the support members reduce the effective bouncing area of the court. The effective bouncing area is an area where a user of the trampoline court (a jumper) is able to effectively use the trampoline to bounce. The effective bounce area does not exist on the support members or in the vicinity of the support members.

Trampolines can overcome this problem by reducing the number of support members that are located in the trampoline court. FIG. 1 shows an isometric side and rear elevation view of a trampoline court 100. FIG. 1 shows the side view of a trampoline with only 1 jumping base 101 that runs continuously from the flat surface 110 to the angled surface 120. The jumping base 101 covers the flat surface or a first plane 110, then the angle surface or a second plane 120. The jumping base 101 is continuous and is not separated into sections with supports like the prior art. The jumping base 101 shown in FIG. 1 has a first angle cross-section 102. Any angle is suitable as long as it is less than 180 degrees and greater than 90 degrees allowing a jumper to jump on both the flat surface 110 and the angle surface 120. The jumping base is connected to the support frame 130 via elastic couplers 103. The elastic couplers can be coil springs, elastic bands, rubber cords, bungee cords, or even nylon cords. The support frame 130 is supported via support beams 135.

This embodiment has additional elastic couplers utilized to eliminate areas of the jumping base 100 where bounce areas have been negatively affected by prior art designs. On the prior art, the jumping base 101 is only connected to the support frame via the springs wherein the springs are connecting the outside edges of the jumping base to the support frame. This design creates a problem where when a jumper jumps on the base surface side of the jumping base, the jumping base bows up in the center creating a no bounce spot, or a dead spot. When a jumper lands in this spot, the trampoline does not work correctly. In some cases, the jumper is forced back towards the middle of the base surface. This design eliminates the bow effect, the dead spot, and allows the jumper the desired direction when landing on that area. A dead spot on a trampoline can increase injuries to a jumper's joints, because of the lack of the tension absorbing the force of a jump. Eliminating the dead spot reduces the risk of injury.

FIG. 1 shows the additional tension supports 104 which are affixed to the cross section 102 of the jumping base 101 where the base surface 110 intersects with the angle surface 120. The additional tension supports 104 connect a cross bar 105 to the cross section 102 of the jumping base 101. The tension support can be a nylon strap affixed to the jumping base 101. The strap can be sewed into the jumping base 101 or connected via a stitched connector.

The strap connects to the cross bar by elastic components. The elastic components can be coil springs similarly to the springs used to connect the jumping base 101 to the support frame 130. These tension supports 104 are connected to a cross bar 105 at a point lower than the cross section 102 so that the support descends from the cross section 102 to the cross bar 105. The angle at which the tension supports 104 descend is less than 0 but greater than 90 degrees. The preferred embodiment has the angle between 2.5 and 10 degrees.

Shown in FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the front and side of the embodiment. The jumping base 201 is one continuous base covering both the flat surface 210 and the angled surface 220 without separation. The jumping base 201 is a material used for trampolines, most commonly a polypropylene. The jumping base 201 has a cross section 202 where the angle surface 220 and the flat surface 210 intersect. The cross section 202 has additional stitching for the jumping base 201 to keep the form of the flat surface 210 and the angle surface 220. The cross stitching minimizes the bow effect when a person jumps close to the cross section 202. In addition, the cross stitching affixes connectors to the back of the cross section 202, not shown in this figure, but shown in FIG. 1. The connectors couple the tension supports, or straps 204.

The tension supports 204 are an elastic section that can be bungee cords, rubber cords, or even nylon straps with coil springs. The nylon strap connects the cross section 202 of the jumping base 201 to the cross bar 205. The cross bar 205 is located at an elevation lower than the cross section 202. The angle created for the tension supports 204 works to add resistance to the cross section 202 of the jumping base 201 which results in the jumping base 201 maintaining form when a person jumps near the cross section 202 which maintains the desired spring effect.

The jumping base 201 has elastic components 203, most commonly coil springs, connecting the base 201 to the frame 230. These elastic components 203 create the spring effect of the trampoline. Prior art includes these springs 203 and only these springs 203 that surround the jumping base 201. These springs 203 secure the jumping base 201 to the frame 230, but fail address the dead spot that occurs as a result. In addition, when a person jumps on the close to the cross section 202 on the flat surface 210, the person is thrust back towards the front of the jumping base 270. The addition of the tension supports 204 has eliminated that problem.

The frame 230 has additional support members 240 to hold the frame 230 above the ground level allowing the jumping base 201 expand lower when a person lands and jumps on the jumping base 201. The frame 230 and the support members 240 are composed of rigid material such as steel or aluminum or any other material that is capable of supporting trampoline. The plurality of support members 240 are sized to support both the flat surface 210 and the angle surface 220 which is an incline plane that requires taller support members.

An additional element has been added to FIG. 2 that is not shown in figure one and it involves where the coil springs are connected to the frame. In prior art, coil springs are connected directly to the frame. In prior art, holes are drilled into the frame pieces. This can be problematic as the springs are not secured very well and can jump off of the frame. The frame pieces are most commonly tubes or square pieces and these pieces are larger than the spring connector. The improvement added is that a thinner bar 280 is affixed to the frame 230. The thin bar 280 is small enough for the springs 203 to encompass, but strong enough to support the trampoline. These extension bars 280 securement of the springs 203 is an improvement over prior art. There is also an extension bar 280 securing the tension supports 204 to the cross bar 205.

Shown in FIG. 3 is an isometric rear view of the embodiment. This figure shows the tension supports or straps 304 more clearly. The tension supports are made of a nylon strap 311 and a coil spring 312. The coil spring is connected to the extension bar 380. The nylon strap 311 can be secured to the jumping base 301 in many ways such as using a coupler, a metal hook secured to the jumping base 301, sewn into the jumping base 301, or as shown, a loop 313 is sewn into the jumping base 301. The nylon strap 311 is wrapped through the loop 313 and tied for securement. Another embodiment, the nylon strap has its own loop at one end. The straps non thread end is threaded through the connection loop described above and then threaded through the nylon strap loop. This wraps the nylon strap through the trampoline loop and secures it with a slip knot tie. The strap 311 can be made of material other than nylon such as polypropylene, rope, rubber cord, bungee cord, and other strap materials.

Other embodiments encompassing this design may include a flat surface with an incline on each side such that both have cross sections that are secured to a cross bar via the tension support straps. 

I claim:
 1. A trampoline comprising: a first plane frame having a plurality of supports to create a three sided frame in a rectangular shape; a second inclined plane frame having a plurality of supports to create a three sided frame in a rectangular shape coupled to the first plane at an angle less than 180 degrees; a single piece of material substantially covering said first plane frame and second plane frame having a cross section where the first plane and second plane intersect; a plurality of tension supports coupling the non-jumping side of the jumping base at the cross section to a support cross bar; wherein said first plane frame and second plane frame are aligned; wherein said cross section end of the tension supports is at a higher elevation than the cross bar end of the tension supports.
 2. The trampoline of claim 1, wherein at least one elastic coupler device connects said piece of material to the first plane frame.
 3. The trampoline of claim 2, wherein the elastic coupler device is a coil tension spring.
 4. The trampoline of claim 2, wherein the elastic coupler device is an elastic cord.
 5. The trampoline of claim 3, wherein the coil spring is coupled to a thin extension bar which is affixed to each section of the first plane frame and the second plane frame.
 6. The trampoline of claim 1, wherein the frame and supports are composed of a rigid material.
 7. The trampoline of claim 6, wherein the rigid material is steel.
 8. The trampoline of claim 6, wherein the rigid material is aluminum.
 9. The trampoline of claim 1, wherein the angle of decline on the tension supports is between 2.5 and 10 degrees.
 10. The trampoline of claim 1, wherein the tension supports comprise: an elastic coupler device; a strap securing the elastic coupler device to the cross section of the piece of material; a thin extension bar securing the elastic coupler device to the cross bar.
 11. The trampoline of claim 10, wherein the elastic coupler device is a coil spring.
 12. The trampoline of claim 10, wherein the strap is a nylon strap.
 13. The trampoline of claim 10, wherein the strap is sewn into the cross section of the piece of material.
 14. The trampoline of claim 10, wherein the strap is tied to a loop which is affixed to the cross section of the piece of material.
 15. The trampoline of claim 14, wherein the loop is composed of nylon material. 